


Let's Play: Dragons of Thedas

by AlleiraDayne



Series: Instead of Going to Bed DAI Verse [9]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Arguing, Board Games, F/M, Fluff, Fun, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 17:33:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5425775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleiraDayne/pseuds/AlleiraDayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian, The Iron Bull, Cassandra, and Cullen get together for a game of Dragons of Thedas, an old tactics board game. Josephine is present to moderate (for a while at least) and Amallia shows up mid game during an argument.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let's Play: Dragons of Thedas

**Author's Note:**

> For @fuckyou-mavhenan, my wonderful sister, who came up with this awesome idea for her giveaway fic from my 100+ Follower Giveaway on Tumblr.

She thought she heard people arguing from the tavern. Not that that was uncommon. But the clarity with which the two voices were shouting hinted that the argument was not some drunken dispute. And then she clearly heard Cullen shout, “That’s not how that unit works, Cassandra!”

Given that he was shouting at Cassandra, Amallia knew she should not have taken the statement as any kind of innuendo but she couldn't help it. She entered the tavern to find it nearly empty except for five people, all tightly crowding a small table. The argument between the Seeker and the Commander cut off abruptly the second they saw her cross the threshold.

“Mal,” Cullen stated flatly as he stood. “We thought you were meeting with a diplomat. We would have invited you.”

Amallia waved off his apology as she neared the table to find _Dragons of Thedas_ – an old tactics game – laid out in the center. Dorian, Bull, Cassandra, and Cullen appeared to be playing. Josephine held a stack of parchment in her hands, seeming to be in charge of the rules.

Amallia pulled up a chair to sit, straddling the seat backwards and resting her arms atop it. “What turn is it?”

“We _were_ in the middle of turn three, but Cullen insists that I’m using my knight incorrectly,” Cassandra huffed.

“You are!” Cullen retorted. “You only get two points for the knight, regardless of what you’re attacking.”

Josephine cleared her throat as she flipped through the parchments and said, “Commander, let me look it up, it’ll just take a second.”

“Who is winning?” Amallia asked while they waited for Josephine, much to Cullen’s dislike. He folded his arms with a scoff, clearly irritated with being questioned.

“Cullen is,” Cassandra snapped again. “He’s already got _six_ dragons and he’ll win in the next turn if someone doesn’t do anything about it.”

Amallia glared at Cullen. “And you’re complaining about the rules?”

He made such an irritated sound that even Cassandra raised her eyebrows questioningly. “Yes, I am complaining about the rules because if Cassandra takes that space, it’ll allow her access to enough dragons for her to win.”

Dorian shrugged. “That would take her three more turns yet and the game will end on your turn if you take your dragon.”

Amallia looked to the board to find it true, but she noticed something nobody else had yet mentioned. The last dragon Cullen needed bordered territory held by Bull and his army.

“Bull, where are you at?” she asked.

“Ah, I have no dragons,” he admitted sheepishly. “Been a little … preoccupied.” His eye shifted to Dorian and he grinned, much to Dorian’s annoyance.

“Fasta vass, you’re not even playing the game, you’re just here to annoy me,” Dorian cursed with his own grin.

Bull laughed loudly, a rumble of thunder that echoed through the entire tavern. “Of course, kadan, what else would I do?”

“Nothing, I suppose,” Dorian sighed.

“Ah, here it is,” Josephine stated excitedly. “Cullen is right, the knight only ever provides two points in combat, regardless of what you’re attacking or defending. The trebuchet provides four points only if you’re attacking a dragon, but it provides no points if you’re attacking or defending against another faction.”

“Fine, I’ll finish my turn then,” Cassandra stated flatly, moving her units about the map. “I’m still at three dragons, I can’t take this one.”

Amallia watched as Cassandra finished her turn and Cullen began his. Most of his troops moved closer, butting against Bull’s territories and only one space away was his seventh dragon. When he attempted to move to it, Cassandra looked up again.

“You can’t move that set, they’ve already moved,” Cassandra stated.

Cullen looked to his move order and then back to Cassandra. “But they’re all in this space now, I can move all of them.”

“No, you can’t. They’ve already moved once without attacking. Their move is over now,” she clarified.

Josephine attempted to resolve the argument by shuffling through the parchment again. “I believe he can, Seeker, you _can_ chain moves.”

“I’m positive you cannot in this situation specifically,” Cassandra butted in, directing her statement at Cullen and seeming to ignore Josephine. “You’re trying to move and then attack, you would have had to attack first, then move—”

“Let me look at the rules,” Cullen demanded the papers from Josephine.

“Oh, fine,” Josephine said with a sigh as she stood and handed him the rules. “You clearly don’t need me to help any longer. Inquisitor, we’ll need to meet when you’re free,” she said to Amallia as she headed for the door.

“Aw, Josephine, don’t leave,” Amallia stated. “Cullen’s just being rude,” she shot at the Commander. “He’ll behave, I promise.”

“I just wanted to look at the rules,” he pouted but Josephine paid him no mind.

“Truly, I do have to prepare for the ah … Ferelden lord and his wife arriving in a few hours. You’ll want to be ready as well, Inquisitor,” Josephine insisted as she left and Amallia was thoroughly confused by the statement, unaware of whom the woman spoke.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Cullen muttered and Amallia turned back to him as he read from the rules. “Cassandra is right. I don’t have enough to take that dragon.”

“Ah, we still have a game then,” Bull chimed in.

“He’ll still take the win on the next round. He’ll move in enough units to take that dragon,” Cassandra pointed out.

Amallia looked down to the board, surveying once more and it was evident that unless _someone_ did anything, Cullen would win on his next turn. He was grinning to himself, seemingly pleased with his impending victory, but Amallia noticed a gleam in Bull’s eye that she knew meant he had a plan.

“Alright, reveal orders for the fourth round and Bull, start your turn,” Cassandra directed.

They flipped over their orders and The Iron Bull looked up to Dorian. “Well, kadan, it seems as though your luck is about to change.”

“No,” Cullen muttered, eyes widening as he finally saw what he had missed earlier. “Why would you _do_ that?! You’ve no stake in the game at this point!”

Bull laughed his booming laugh again. “Because there’s no way I’m letting you win in four turns, Commander. Plus, _Boss_ is here and I’m not about to let _her_ down.”

Amallia laughed loudly, cackling as Bull moved three territories worth of units in on Cullen’s army, easily outmatching the Commander in each zone. Cullen glared at her, appearing incredibly irritated by her finding the game humorous.

“I’m so sorry, Cullen,” she gasped through her breaths. “I can’t help it.”

Play continued smoothly, but Cullen never recovered. In three more turns, Cassandra took her seventh dragon unchallenged since Cullen’s army was no longer a threat and Dorian and Bull were too far away to do anything about it as well.

“Good game, Commander,” Cassandra commented as she held out her hand. “But, I do owe Bull that win,” she said with a laugh.

“I was so close,” Cullen mumbled, dejected as he took the Seeker’s hand in his own, shaking it absently.

“ _Too close_ ,” Bull jested as he clapped the Commander on his shoulder and Amallia couldn’t help but laugh again, hand clamping over her mouth as Cullen glared at her.

“You know you’re in trouble, right?” he mumbled to her.

Her coy smirk returned as she asked, “When am I not?”

 


End file.
